Cliffy: Gears hype "backfired in my face"

Cliff Bleszinski has revealed his regret in hyping Gears of War 2 with the infamous words "bigger, better and more badass" - arguing that the phrase "ultimately backfired in my face".

Epic's design director insists his team is now focused on making the "most polished Gears game we've ever produced" while "trying not to be as catchy with it this time".

Speaking to Eurogamer at E3 on what he described as his "love-hate" relationship with the press, Bleszinski admitted that games PR had "gotten completely out of hand, where you have to have a Twitter to tease in a teaser trailer to tease in the launch trailer to tease in the announcement press release."

But he added it was "sad" but "necessary" to "announce things multiple times to make things stick", with so many distractions competing for consumers' attention.

On the media, he reiterated his recent attack on sections of the games press, relayed via Twitter, criticising a culture "where certain websites like to grab any sort of quote that they can and put it up in a very, very large font and let the flame war ensue in the comments."

Acknowledging that games marketing and PR performed a similar function, he clarified: "I'm just pushing back against the complete misquotes and the fabrications."

Refraining from sloganeering this time, he said Gears 3 "is going to be the best looking, most fun, most feature rich - and, most importantly - most polished Gears game we've ever produced. With Gears 2 we raised the bar but everyone caught up and we're like, okay, we've got to hit back twice as hard."

Despite releasing to widespread acclaim and success, Bleszinski said he thought the team "got a little bit drunk on the whole idea of set-pieces" in Gears 2, promising a more balanced offering that enhances replayability.

"[Set-pieces are] wonderful, they have their own place - buildings collapsing, monsters bursting out," he said. "And we will absolutely have plenty of that. But one thing that got a little lost in the shuffle in Gears 2 is the idea of nice combat bowls.

"I hope it's a love letter to what everybody loved about the first game while taking the spirit of the story and the cinematic moments of the second and putting it together with a really crazy feature set."

Gears of War 3 is the final part in a trilogy of games. But, given the series' incredible success, a further franchise title from the studio seems likely. "If Gears of War 3 comes out and does extremely well we would most certainly consider another game," he said. "But what that would be would remain to be seen.

"Is it DLC? Its own thing? What happens with the next generation of consoles? It's hard to predict even a couple of years into the future right now."